


we're not beyond repair

by rarmaster



Series: YWKON [7]
Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, More tags to be added, all the hurt's done with, well... the comfort side of it anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2020-04-07 15:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19088041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: The gang puts themselves back together after nearly being torn apart.Direct sequel toDo You Know Her?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _You can’t fall any further_   
>  _Any further from the floor_   
>  _So gather up yourself now, love_   
>  [ _Just as you were before_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBV8CK9LKo)

Sunlight streams through the open curtains. Colette hums a gentle tune that Lloyd only partially listens to, his thoughts Elsewhere. They’re curled up in Lloyd’s bed, Lloyd leaning against the wall and Colette’s head in his lap. She’s mostly propped on the leg he has folded under her, his other leg sandwiched between the wall and her body. He idly plays with her hair with one hand. His other is clenched firmly between her fingers.

In Colette’s other hand, she grips Zelos’ dormant core crystal. It’s still grey and lifeless.

“Hey, Colette?” Lloyd says.

She stops humming, leaning her head back to look up at him. “Hmm?”

Lloyd sighs, having thought only through getting her attention in the process of the conversation he wants to have. The question he wants to ask isn’t exactly easy, either, so that makes it even more difficult. Gentle curiosity pushes across their ether link, and Lloyd brushes Colette’s bangs back as he mulls over the words.

“I… understand if you still aren’t up for talking about it,” Lloyd says, sending Colette a gentle smile, especially as she breaks eye-contact with him and the curiosity in their link is immediately drowned by unease. “But… I just… I want to know what happened to Zelos.” The worry eats at his chest, and Colette probably feels an echo of that, easy. Lloyd shrugs, letting out a slow breath. “I can’t really help him—or _you_ —if I don’t know what happened, and I _want_ to help.”

Colette doesn’t answer right away. She ducks her head down, tucking her chin against her chest. She’s trembling, just a little, grip tightening on her brother’s core crystal.

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it, still,” Lloyd assures her, mustering all his patience. He wants to know but he doesn’t want to upset her, and like—he hasn’t really gone into details about what Miang put _him_ through, either, so. “It can wait.”

“…no,” Colette says, softly. She takes a deep breath, unease tightening into resolve. “You should know. But… if you don’t mind, it might be easier if I just…” She yanks his hand gently towards her core crystal, and obediently he presses his fingers against it. He feels her ether gather for a data transfer.

He closes his eyes in anticipation, not that it’s going to matter much.

The images flood his vision.

Zelos, eyes vacant, sword blazing. A voice, gentle, intrusive: “ _You must be so exhausted.”_ Endless white interrupted by little black boxes. Zelos, motionless, in Miang’s lap. Tears in his eyes and pain in his arm, Zelos’ core crystal clutched to his chest as he watches Miang tremble, as he screams: _“I_ asked _for this! Because_ death _would have been better than the hell I was already—”_

Colette yanks his hand off her core crystal, breathing harshly. Lloyd turns his head away, blinking rapidly as his mind tries to catch up with all that was just dumped on him. Oh. Oh _Architect._ Rage boils in his belly at Miang, but louder than the rage is an overwhelming _sadness,_ because Colette…

Shame beats in her core, and she shifts like she’s gonna pull away from him entirely, curling in on herself. She’s turned her head so that all her hair has fallen to hide her face. Lloyd takes a shuddering breath, horror washing over him as he processes all of what Zelos went through, but Colette trembling in his lap is hard to ignore and he knows, oh he knows, it’s more than what Miang did to Zelos that haunts her.

“Sorry, sorry,” she mumbles, scared like she hasn’t been since he first found her. “It’s—I’m fine. Really I’m fine. Please don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, Colette,” Lloyd protests, over her fear. He wraps her up in all of his love, tugging her more thoroughly into his arms, until he can tuck her head against his chest. He holds her as tight as he can, having no idea what else to do in the wake of her despair, the gaping chasm that is the past she refuses to talk about, and no _wonder_ why.

( _An image from her dreams, an image that wound up in that package along with everything else, flickers in his mind. Back rigid cold chair shards of an emerald core crystal on the table. Peace and certainty and_ hunger _, even though a decision like this would have made anyone else weak in the knees._

 _But there’s a point, in the depths of despair, where you just stop caring. Death may as well take you. It couldn’t be much worse._ )

“I’m fine now, I’m fine, really,” Colette protests, crying into his shirt. She clings to the fabric the same way shame clings to her core and won’t let go. He holds her tighter. “Really it hasn’t been that bad since—then. Since Martel. I’m—I’m fine, I’m _happy,_ I’m _okay_. Zelos is- is the one you should be worried about, he’s the one who—”

“Shh,” Lloyd tells her. He pets her hair, kisses her crown. “Just… don’t say anything. You don’t have to apologize.”

“I’m _fine,_ now, I really am!”

Maybe she is, but that doesn’t change the fact she _wasn’t,_ the fact that he never really knew. Lloyd wishes he could reach into the past and heal all Colette’s wounds himself, but all he can do is hold her now, hold her and pour his love into her, so she can’t possibly forget it.

“I know you are,” he whispers into her hair. “And I’m so proud of you.”

No offense to Zelos, or anyone else, but. Colette’s probably the bravest blade he knows.


	2. Chapter 2

Lloyd swirls his half-gone coffee idly before he takes a drink. It's not as strong as it could be, left over from a batch Anna made as it is, but it at least _tastes_ good and familiar, incredibly welcome after the too-bitter taste of Miang's coffee. He's sitting in the corner of the couch in the front room, alone, which isn't great but isn't too bad, either. Asking everyone to be with him constantly would be selfish, and honestly. He'll be okay for the half hour Colette needs for her shower.

That doesn't mean he isn't grateful and somewhat relieved when Kratos steps into the room, though. Kratos sends Lloyd a tired smile, looking like he needs more sleep than he's getting and clutching his own mug of coffee. It smells delightfully fresh, and Lloyd's briefly jealous, but-- _he_ could have made himself a fresh pot of coffee on his own and chose not to, so it's fine. There's no way Kratos finished the whole pot, anyway, so Lloyd can just get himself some when he's done with this mug.

"Hey, Dad," he says.

Kratos lifts one hand in a wave. He's gotten back to being mostly verbal, but certainly isn't quite at his normal yet. It takes him a moment to get out: "Can I sit?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure!" Lloyd says, brightly. He was sitting like an ass with one leg spread across the entire couch, so he tucks that one up close to his body with the other, feet hanging out at the edge of this couch cushion he's claimed as his. Could he put them on the floor like a so-called 'normal' person? Yeah. Is he gonna? No.

To his surprise, Kratos sits down in the middle of the couch instead of at the other end, which means Lloyd has to yank his feet away from Kratos' thigh after the brief initial contact. "Sorry," Lloyd says, watching his father anxiously for an ill reaction.

Kratos laughs softly, though. "It's alright," he assures Lloyd. "Today's a good day."

"Oh," Lloyd says, surprised. He squints, not wanting to push too far, but Kratos is good about being honest. So Lloyd slides his legs slowly back to how he had them before, balls of his feet slowly pressed up against Kratos' thigh again. Warmth beats loud and strong in his chest, relief at how solid and here Kratos is, how nice it is to _be_ with someone after being alone for so long. Kratos hums, clearly fond, drinking his coffee to hide his smile, but he's not fooling Lloyd. "It's good to see you in high spirits," Lloyd teases, gently. "You feeling better?"

Kratos nods, slowly, his smile clearly exasperated. "I am, yes," he says. "Trust me when I say this is not the worst week I have ever had. Though I appreciate you worrying."

"'Course I'm worrying, I love you." Lloyd nudges Kratos a little, not enough to jostle (Kratos is a hard man to jostle) but enough to be playful. Kratos laughs, just a little, responds by reaching over and ruffling Lloyd's hair.

"I love you too, Lloyd," he says, and.

Lloyd's chest swells with warmth, which is silly, really, because of _course_ Kratos loves him, he knows this and has no reason to doubt it. But it makes him so happy to hear, anyway, so he holds it close and knocks back what's left of his coffee so he doesn't have to think too much about it.

Kratos, it seems, sees through him, though.

"Are _you_ alright, Lloyd?" Kratos asks, raising his eyebrows at his son.

"Yeah, of course!" Lloyd insists, with a little laugh. He takes a second to set his now-empty coffee mug down on the end table beside him. Embarrassment makes his face hot and he ducks his head down, not looking at Kratos even as he pushes his feet flat against Kratos' leg, drinking in every inch of contact. "I mean, it's not like Miang _hurt_ me. I probably got off way better than the rest of you guys."

Kratos' hand finds his shoulder, squeezing gently. "That may be so, but that does not have to mean you are _okay._ You spent three days in captivity, Lloyd."

Lloyd shrugs. "Yeah but, Miang was nice, though. Even if _that_ was… weird." He hated Miang's kindness but he was grateful for it all the same, because it could have been _worse_ and he doesn't want it to have been worse but still— _Ugh._ He shakes the thought out of his head, and he reaches up to grab Kratos' hand, to press it down against his shoulder, drinking up the touch like he's still starved for it. "But it was fine, really," he says, because it was, and because he is. "I'm fine."

"Hmm."

That's the hum Kratos hums when he isn't convinced. Lloyd sends him a dirty look, but it's hard to keep up under Kratos' concerned exasperation.

"A gilded cage is still a cage," Kratos says. Of course he does.

"I know, I _know,"_ Lloyd grumbles, because he does. He understands both the meaning and the significance of it, knows that Colette and Zelos spent most of their lives living in cages that did not look like cages and that scarred them just the same—maybe even worse—than a cage that looked like a cage but. Lloyd lets out a short, shaky breath and he curls in on himself, forehead pressed to the arm of the couch he leans against, squeezing Kratos' hand. He's _fine_ , is the thing. He's fine, he just— "I'm just glad it's over," he whispers. "I'm glad—You're here. And I'm here. And- And I never have to drink Miang's shitty coffee ever again."

He shouldn't deflect like that, but it makes Kratos laugh, so that's nice.

"Would you like me to get you more coffee?" Kratos asks, fond. "I made the good kind."

Lloyd laughs but his chest is too tight. He grips Kratos' hand tighter. "I don't want you to go anywhere right now."

"...Then come here," Kratos says, gentle.

He tugs on Lloyd, and Lloyd doesn't resist, just lets his dad pull him close, his head falling against Kratos' chest. He squeezes his eyes shut an laughs, embarrassed, grateful, because this is real and Kratos isn't leaving and he's not _alone._ And maybe something in him is broken, now, because he can't remember aching so badly for these things Before, but—Kratos rubs soothing circles over Lloyd's back and presses a kiss to Lloyd's hair and that's enough. That's enough.


	3. Chapter 3

Colette plunges herself into the dreamspace, reaching for Zelos’ port.

It’s closed.

Hm. Even with his crystal dormant like this, that shouldn’t be a problem?

She places her hand up against the gate that glows softly orange, suspended in an unfilled void—the gate that bars her from seeing her brother.

“Zelos…?” she calls.

No answer. He doesn’t respond to her pings, either.

Smile twisted bitterly, Colette sends a message.

“Everything’s okay now, Lloyd’s safe, so if you want me to help you with the rest of the repairs I can.”

No response, the bastard.

“ _Zelos_.”

Finally, a reluctant ping.

 _I’m alright,_ he says. _But I can handle it alone. Don’t need distractions._

Colette laughs, fond and slightly annoyed. “It’ll go faster if I help.”

_I just want some time alone._

“Don’t isolate yourself, Zelos, please…”

_Still working through what happened, you know? Gotta figure out what I’ll tell Lloyd._

Colette laughs, then sighs, pressing her forehead up against the gate. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair,” she whispers, thinking of all the things she hasn’t figured out how to tell Lloyd yet. Hers are older pains, though. Things she’s gone this long without bringing up, things that her mother dredged to the surface.

She can’t blame Zelos for not knowing what to say. It’s been years, and she still hasn’t figured it out.

_…Colette?_

She drops her hand from his port, ending the connection.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOCAL RAR........... MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN........ THAT ZELOS HAS BEEN FUCKING DEAD SINCE YWKON2 ENDED AND THAT IT HAD BEEN A YEAR WITHOUT ME FIXING THAT........................................ HERE'S ME FIXING THAT......................................

_Scanning…_

_Scanning…_

_Scanning…_

_No threats detected._

_No data loss detected._

_Systems: ready._

_Resonance candidate detected nearby._

_Ping?_

_Proceed without resonance?_

Zelos breathes long and slow of the artificial air that fills his dreamspace. It’s nothing like the real thing—honestly, it’s just a show he’s putting on, but he’s the only member in the audience. The sky is clear, the sunset bright and unbroken orange, grassy hills ( _as Colette likes to make, and Zelos reconstructed because he misses her touch here even though he refused to let her in_ ) spreading out as far as the eye can see in every direction. Perfect, idyllic tranquility.

Artificial tranquility. He’ll have to wake up eventually.

( _Colette hasn’t checked in on him since that first time._

 _He supposes he_ did _tell her not to, but even still, it makes his core twitch with discomfort._ )

Zelos lets his eyes scan the horizon, the sky, the hills. He’s long past the point where any remnants of his… of… of _Miang’s_ little failsafe would manifest in big enough chunks to be caught with the naked eye, but he looks anyway. He wishes it made him feel better. In reality, he knows he’s just procrastinating.

Scan again, he tells his core.

_Scanning…_

_Scanning…_

_Scanning…_

_No threats detected._

_No data loss detected._

_Systems ready._

_Resonance candidate detected nearby._

_Ping?_

_Proceed without resonance?_

Zelos sighs, running a hand through his hair to fix it, even though what he does to his hair here in the dreamspace isn’t going to affect the physical world once he manifests. Still…

Ping, he tells his core.

The ping is over in an instant. The ether signature reads as Lloyd’s.

Relief about crushes Zelos’ chest. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed the taste of Lloyd’s ether, the warmth of Lloyd’s presence. It’s been a long… Well, the three days while they worked to save Lloyd, plus all this time he spent reconfiguring… Has it really been eight days?

He really has to wake up.

_Ping complete._

_Request waiting._

_Accept?_

Zelos musters up all his bravery. He’s worried about Lloyd, wants to see that Lloyd is okay with his own eyes. And he wants to make sure Colette is alright, too. She has every reason not to be, after their… after _Miang’s_ little trick. Zelos tries not to think about it, lest he lose his nerve.

Colette’s worried about him, he reminds himself.

Colette’s worried, and he wants to see Lloyd.

Accept.

The dreamspace fades, winks gently out. Dim sunlight—sunset, from the intensity and angle of it, and Zelos laughs to himself over the irony—plays against Zelos’ eyelids, and other sensations begin registering to him just seconds following that. Firstly and most importantly, the way his ether knots around Lloyd, tying them together. Second, the distinct lack of an ache in his core, as Colette’s signal meets the resonance and their split halves sing in harmony upon reunited. Third, the physical press of a mattress beneath him, soft sheets and warm limbs on either side of him that he can’t quite put identities too, especially since the emotion bleed drowns him in Lloyd’s excitement and relief, and

Zelos opens his eyes.

“Zelos! Zelos you’re awake!!!” Lloyd sings, and before Zelos can even think of moving, to perhaps extricate himself from how thoroughly sandwiched he is between his sister and their boyfriend, Lloyd his on _top_ of him, smothering him in a bone-crushing hug.

But that’s. That’s okay though, isn’t it?

Zelos extricates an arm just enough that he can clap a hand against Lloyd’s back, pulling him closer as Lloyd’s relief drowns him, amplifies his own. “Good to be back,” he wheezes, because Lloyd’s clinging to him so tightly Zelos is getting the impression that Lloyd intends to bury himself in Zelos’ skin. “Hey, honey,” he protests, because _holy shit_ his lungs are not appreciating being crushed. “Can you _please_ get off and let me breathe, or else I’m just gonna die again—”

“Zelos!” Colette scolds, but Lloyd laughs—kind of watery, but at _least_ he gets up! Geeze!

“Sorry, sorry,” Lloyd apologizes, but there’s no way he’s actually sorry if he’s grinning that wide ( _he rarely is sorry about things like this, the bastard_ ). “I just? I missed you!! It’s been a week!!!”

Zelos turns to look up at Colette (she’s sitting next to him, his head basically on her thigh, Lloyd still on top of Zelos even if all his weight is on the bed now), a silent question conveyed in the raise of his brow.

“You’ve been offline for five days,” Colette tells Zelos, and Zelos breathes a sigh of relief.

“It was like twice as long for me since I saw him last, though!” Lloyd whines.

“That’s not how math works,” Zelos tells him. 

“Shut upppp!” Lloyd keeps whining. “It felt like forever, okay!” He bends down to kiss Zelos on the cheek, knock their foreheads together, casual but incredibly needy, and as Zelos assesses the longing that Lloyd’s sending to the emotion bleed, he wonders if literally anything is going to sate that. “I missed you,” Lloyd whispers, sweet and loving, and Zelos tries to think about that and not about he wants to kill his mother— kill _Miang_ for what she put Lloyd through.

“Lloyd, stop hogging him,” Colette says, and Lloyd jolts, embarrassment spiking briefly in the emotion bleed, even though his laugh is nervous and his smile unashamed. 

“Sorry,” Lloyd says, and climbs off of Zelos. 

Before Colette can get any ideas, Zelos drags himself upright so he can’t get tackled against the bed again. He’s barely settled against the mountain of pillows Colette and Lloyd have set up here before Colette’s thrown her arms around him, crushing him— _harder_ than Lloyd did, actually! But, thinking about what happened when they were last in the same physical space, remembering the jarring in his core as his sword tore into her, maybe he deserves that.

“Colette,” he protests, though, softly, because even if he deserves it he’d really rather not actually die again and _ow his lungs._

“Missed you!” Colette proclaims, brightly and unapologetic ( _which is healing, in a way, for how often his sister apologizes for herself, it’s nice to hear her be so unashamed of her emotions_ ), and then at least she lets go of him. 

But of course Zelos cannot have any peace, so the moment Colette’s let go of him Lloyd swings a leg over Zelos’ lap, curling up into his side, face finding the crook of Zelos’ neck. _And_ Colette’s cuddling up against his other side, finding Lloyd’s hand to hold and fine, fine, death by cuddling! There are worse ways to go!

“You two are ridiculous,” Zelos insists, even as he loops an arm around Lloyd’s back to better support him, buries his fingers in Lloyd’s hair. “I’m not going anywhere!”

“You’ll have to forgive Lloyd,” Colette says, laughing softly. “He’s been pretty clingy for everyone all week!”

“Hey!” Lloyd squeaks, but he doesn’t deny it. The emotion bleed is warm and clear with a relief that swallows everything except the yawning hunger in Lloyd’s chest. “I’ve been through some shit, okay? At least cuddling the hell out of you guys is—there’s _worse_ ways to cope.”

He… has a point, there. And:

“As if you don’t like it when he’s clingy,” Zelos accuses, sending a meaningful look at his sister. Colette blushes, but doesn’t argue. How can she, when they all know the soft, content feeling in the emotion bleed belongs to her.

“You do, too,” she insists, quiet. Zelos rolls his eyes.

( _He_ does, _but unlike Colette, if they keep him pinned here for more than an hour, he’s going to lose his mind. Well… under normal circumstances, anyway. Maybe today that wouldn’t be so bad._ )

“Anyway, hey…” Colette begins.

Sensing where this is going, Zelos rapidly heads her off. “I’m fine, I’m fine!” he says, bright and a little fake. If he had a hand free, he’d flap it through the air just to wave the thought away. “It might as well have been routine maintenance, really. Nothing to worry about.”

“That’s good!” Lloyd says, convinced, or not caring enough to pry right now. Zelos is glad at least _someone_ here is willing to give him his privacy, unlike the knot of concern he can feel from Colette.

But that… isn’t something he wants to discuss where Lloyd can hear. So, silently, just to get a gauge of things, Zelos sends her a message.

_How much did you tell Lloyd?_

A response, instantaneous: _I did a memory transfer, because it was easier. He knows._

Oh.

Zelos supposes he can’t blame her, but… the thought of Lloyd seeing him like… Zelos doesn’t even _know_ how he looked, how that whole ordeal must have been, for Colette. Wherever conscious thoughts were happening for him, at the time, they were far, far away from his physical body. And even if he had been able to see Colette… it’s not like he could have seen _himself._

( _He can remember the fake, pained tightness of her voice, though. The bubbling nervous assurances that she was fine, that he wasn’t hurting her, even though he_ knows _he was…_ )

 _Colette?_ Zelos asks, still silent.

_Yeah?_

_Are you… I’m sorry I hurt you._

_It’s okay._

_It’s really not._

_It’s not your fault, though. So it’s okay._

And there’s a finality in her tone, in those words, in that signal. Zelos isn’t at all convinced, but he can tell Colette won’t change her mind and… he’s too exhausted to deal with that right now, anyway. His… _Miang’s…_ What she did to him. It’s over now. 

It’s over now.

“What did I miss, anyway?” Zelos says, aloud, to give them all something else to think about. “Five days… Well, I must’ve missed a lot!”

“Not really,” Colette says, like maybe he did.

“Nothing fun,” Lloyd says, and that at least Zelos believes.

“Tell me anyway,” Zelos insists.

“Well it took us three days to get back to civilization,” Colette explains, with a soft sigh, but otherwise with no hesitation. The emotion bleed still sings too loudly with Lloyd’s relief and desire to drink up every inch of contact between himself and Zelos for Zelos to really hear anything else underneath it all, but there are worse problems to have. He idly runs his fingers through Lloyd’s hair as Colette keeps talking. “You know, the little waystation Anna and Kratos were staying at. We’re still there now—didn’t want to move any further without you.”

Zelos laughs, short. They didn’t have to, but he appreciates it.

“Things… you know… there were a few snags, in rescuing Lloyd,” Colette says. _No kidding,_ Zelos thinks, and then tries not to think about it. “But no one got seriously hurt, and we’re all… managing okay, I guess. Everyone’s doing better now than we were two days ago, anyway.” She laughs, though it’s kind of tight.

“Way better,” Lloyd says, firmly, and somehow Zelos gets the feeling that this is about maybe more than just the three of them. That’s… worrying. Colette said no one got seriously hurt, but; Kratos, Anna, Malos… are they all okay?

“Also,” Colette continues, “I don’t know where Mom is now or if she’s okay, but I guess… I guess that’s not our problem, anymore.”

Zelos knows who she’s talking about. He can’t _not_ know who she’s talking about. Even still, he turns to his sister with an expression that clearly says _I have no idea who you’re talking about,_ just so Colette will correct herself:

“Miang, I mean,” she says, like she should have said to begin with. That woman has _no right_ to be their mother, not anymore, not after all that bullshit.

“If she wanted help, she could have just asked, but she didn’t, and that’s her fault,” Lloyd mumbles.

Colette makes a noise, noncommittal. There’s a sharp note of _something_ in the emotion bleed, just loud enough to be heard over all the signals Lloyd’s sending. Zelos… remembers the way Colette acted, before they saw Miang, remembers how she wanted to give Miang a chance. Even after _all that,_ after everything Miang did to Lloyd, to _him,_ she still wants to give that woman a _chance_?

( _Or maybe… maybe she just regrets that she couldn’t._

 _Maybe she regrets Miang didn’t take the chance that was offered to her._ )

Either way, Zelos does not have the energy to deal with this right now, though he feels like if he doesn’t Colette’s not going to sort it out at all, and he _really_ can’t let her do that.

But right now? It doesn’t matter.

“Well, she’s not our problem, anymore,” Zelos says.

“She’s not,” Colette echoes, though she doesn’t sound happy.

“Hey, now that Zelos is awake,” LLoyd says, bright and obviously trying to change the subject. “Malos said he’d go with us to the shelter to pick out a dog. We could go do that.”

“Oh!” Colette says, like she’d forgotten about it and is delighted to remember.

“Oh,” Zelos says, because he’d also forgotten about it, despite them having planned this for… months, now. The past week feels like it took an eternity. “Are we still doing that?”

“Well if you don’t _want_ to,” Lloyd begins, but the look Colette sends Zelos makes it clear he really doesn’t have a choice. 

“Hey, I’m not _against_ it!” Zelos insists. “But does it have to be right _now_?” He is, very much, against moving at the precise moment. He’d like to stay here for… maybe another eternity, if they can find that time. And if not, then a couple of hours will do.

“I was just _saying,_ ” Lloyd says, and from the way he curls up even closer to Zelos, Zelos is pretty sure Lloyd doesn’t actually want to be moving right now, either. “‘m glad you’re back,” he mumbles again, into Zelos’ skin, and Zelos breathes, long and slow.

“Me too.”


End file.
